Improving Joint Integrity
The wind-energy market has been calling for the need to reduce maintenance costs now and especially after the production tax credits expire. Mechanical joint...
Bolting Technology Advancements
Why is using a transducerized tooling system important? To understand that importance, the accuracy difference between transducerized and current-controlled tooling needs to be explained.
Current...
Cranes and Wind Power: A Critical Pairing
Wind energy continues to be a robust industry with wind-farm construction predicted well into 2020. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Vision Report states...
Extreme Blade Transport
The growth of the wind industry in the last decade has brought with it a push for higher efficiency wind turbines and the ability...
Offshore Wind Challenges
Deepwater Wind recently completed construction on its first offshore wind farm in the United States off the coast of Rhode Island. By the end...
Don’t Blame the Oil
In the wind industry, complex organo-metallic gear-oil chemistry and its resulting higher water content have sometimes been blamed for gearbox damage or failure. But...
Advance Warning Advantage
Before the next maintenance inspection for a wind turbine, much can happen. At every turn, critical components can be moving toward failure. Wind turbines...
A Bolt of Knowledge
A carbon-fiber blade from a wind turbine is transformed into shards of debris as it is struck by 30,000-degree lightning.
This disastrous — and costly...
Protecting the Blades
Every year, wind-turbine blades face numerous environmental and weather challenges — including rain, hail, blowing sand, and salt spray — that can cause significant...
Looking North for Solutions
For years, Canada’s wind-energy industry has had the potential to expand its market through exports to the United States, but it is only now...
Syncing Up the Data
At the end of 2015, Canada had commissioned more than 11,000 MW of wind-power capacity, and even more wind farms will be coming online...
BOEM’s Renewable Energy Program
Renewable energy is of critical importance to the nation’s security, economy, and environment. Commercial wind energy is no longer simply an aspirational vision for...
Optimizing Lubrication
Since each rolling bearing in a wind turbine operates under different conditions, it often is assumed using a variety of lubricants is essential for...
Cutting the Concrete
An Oregon startup is developing a new foundation system for wind-turbine towers that cuts the amount of concrete used by 75 percent – reducing...
MARKET OUTLOOK: A Win for Wind Power
The winds of fortune are shifting rapidly for the energy sector. The rise of hydraulic fracturing and the ongoing OPEC-driven supply glut have pushed...
MARKET OUTLOOK: Breathing New Life into Wind
The five-year extension of the Production Tax Credit has breathed new life into the wind industry, and as a result, new wind-plant additions are...
MARKET OUTLOOK: Iowa: A Leader in Renewable Energy
When you imagine a future for wind energy nationwide, you don’t have to look farther than the state of Iowa as a shining example...
MARKET OUTLOOK: A Strong Wind Blows Deep in the Heart of Texas
No one said Texas doesn’t try to do everything big.
So obviously, the Lone Star state’s “bigness” is a point of pride in everything it...
MARKET OUTLOOK: Wind Future Grows Stronger
American wind power is on track to supply 20 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030, a goal set in the Department of Energy’s...
Trained Personnel Are Key to Safe Wind Farm Operations
Wind farm owners are doing their best to control spending, and, unfortunately, safety issues can be unintentionally overlooked, exposing contract workers and the wind...
